


the kids are alright

by saddiebey



Series: rockstar au [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Family, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-09-18 10:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16993656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saddiebey/pseuds/saddiebey
Summary: bruce is going into this 'raising recently orphaned kids' thing blind, but somewhere down the line he'll get the hang of it.





	1. everything's okay

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first chaptered fic for my rockstar au. probably not the only one, but i probably shouldn't get ahead of myself. anyway, ignore my forever changing writing style; me + chaptered fics = chaos and disaster.

it’s midnight, his arm is in a sling, and there’s a seven and ten-year-old staring at him after he’d sworn he put them to bed. they both look exhausted, but he knows they can’t sleep.

he can’t either.

bruce has known these boys since they were born but for the past couple of months they’ve felt like strangers. they’re quiet, which leslie said would happen, so he isn’t exactly surprised but–

but.

dick used to talk his ear off. the kid was an endless bundle of energy and questions and ideas.

tim was, decidedly, the quieter of the two, but when something interested him he could go on about it for hours.

bruce hadn’t been able to talk to duke after doug moved across town and cut off all contact. any plans he had to reunite his godchildren were on hold until he could figure out exactly where the thomases had gone. he also wanted to ask doug how duke was coping with everything. maybe there was something he wasn’t doing or forgetting with tim and dick.

leslie’s weekly therapy sessions and bruce’s attempts at getting the boys into activities that used to interest them seemed to fall flat. he tried to remember what he’d done when his parents died and that had dredged up old wounds he didn’t feel like dealing with, so he went to alfred. the old man offered advice, but neither boy seemed to take to what he’d suggested.

“what’re you guys doing up?”

smooth.

“can’t sleep,” tim shrugs.

“do you guys want warm milk or-”

“when you get better can you…” dick’s voice trails off and he bites lip, looking unsure of himself.

bruce steps forward, “what’s up, dick?”

“mom left me her bass, right?”

a lump forms in his throat and bruce nods, thinking about the bass guitar sitting in his recording studio.

a recording studio he may never step foot in again.

“when you get better can you teach me how to play?” he’s mumbling and playing with his fingers.

bruce wants to hug him.

“yeah,” he says before he can even think about what he’s saying, “yeah, i’ll…i can do that.”

never mind that his hand was crushed in the accident and he may never play again. never mind that his heart starts racing the second he looks at an instrument or sees anything with goodnight, gotham’s logo on it. if this was going to make dick happy then so be it.

“...can we visit them tomorrow?” tim asks.

he hasn’t been to the cemetery since the burials but he can do that for tim.

“we can do that.”

it’s half past midnight, his arm is in a sling, and there are two boys he’s known since they were born, but they’re different now. just like he was different when his parents died. just like duke is different, wherever he is in gotham.

but it’s going to be okay.

they’re going to be okay.


	2. lost boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bruce finds duke, everyone just wishes the circumstances were different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for a quick mention of drug use more notes at the end bc they might be a little spoilery.

“you’re a social worker.”

 leslie looked up from her coffee and raised an eyebrow at the boy seated in front of her. his attention was on the bowl of soup sitting in front of him. he wrinkled his nose at it and frowned.

“how do you know i’m a social worker?” she questioned.

“i see you at school sometimes.” he shrugged, “then you show up at my complex. you ain’t a bill collector so you gotta be a social worker.”

“i suppose that’s a pretty good deduction,” she hid a smile and took a sip of her coffee, “do you know why i picked you up from school today?”

he tasted the soup, “i don’t like chicken noodle.”

“would you like something else? grilled cheese? they have burgers.”

“nah. m’not hungry.”

they sat in silence. leslie didn’t want to push the kid into saying anything and she didn’t want to give him her social worker spiel just yet. she’d been on his case for a while now at the request of bruce wayne. the time spent at his elementary school and apartment complex weren’t for other cases, but to gather information on him. what she’d learned was that doug thomas left his young son for days at a time for reasons unknown. neighbors kept an eye on him and teachers made sure he was okay, but this wasn’t a proper living situation for a child.

“dad used to pick me up from school,” he paused and looked up at her, “before the monster.”

“the monster?”

in all of her years as a social worker leslie had heard enough stories to make her regret her four years in college and career choice. she’d regretted it so much she went back for a career change and ended up with a doctorate in child psychology. that field still had its fair share of heartbreak, but she felt as though she was actually helping instead of constantly shuffling kids around. the only reason she was back now was as a favor to bruce.

he’d been her first case.

“a kid from my school got taken away from his mom. you gonna take me away from my dad?”

leslie swallowed. “how long as he been gone, duke?”

“just two days. he has to get rid of the monster.”

“who is the monster?”

“m’not s’pposed to talk about it.” he shook his head, “but you don’t have to take me away. i can take care of myself.”

“you shouldn’t have to take care of yourself.”

“but i can! i mean, i do! he’ll be back! he always comes back.” duke furrowed his eyebrows and seemed to glare down into his bowl of soup.

leslie reached out to put a comforting hand on duke’s, only for him to move his hands under the table.

“where am i going?”

“do you remember bruce wayne?”

his face showed recognition, but leslie didn’t expect the kid to remember him. he hadn’t seen bruce since he was five. “he sang with mama, right?” he asked.

“yeah, he did. he’s going to take you in until your dad comes back.”

she hated getting kids hopes up about their parents, but she needed duke to be open to this. placing him with his godfather was the best for him, but if he felt he was being forced into it he wasn’t going to be receptive.

“what if i don’t like it?” duke mumbled, “what about my school? and my friends?”

leslie hesitated before answering. the narrows was an island in the middle of gotham. the second duke moved to wayne manor he’d be in a new world. bruce was already talking about enrolling him at gotham academy with tim and dick. there would be no more narrows for duke especially not as long as his father was around.

“duke a lot of things are about to change for you. you can keep in touch with your friends, but you’ll be starting at a new school, and you’ll make new friends. do you remember tim and dick?”

“kinda,”

“you’ll get to go to school with them, live with them. it’ll be like having brothers-”

“i remember what it was like with them. a little.” duke said quietly.

“that’s good, duke. what do you remember?”

“just that we’d play together,” he shrugged, “s’all.”

“it’ll be good to see them again, right?”

“i guess.”

leslie sighed and stood up from her seat. “how about we get out of here? bruce hasn’t seen you in a few years and he’d really like to.”

“sure.” he shrugged again.

“he’s your godfather. did you know that?”

duke makes a face almost as though he doesn’t know how to react to that information.

“did you know my mama?” he asked as he followed her out of the diner they’d been sitting in.

“mhm. met her when she was pregnant with you, actually.” leslie smiled at the memory of the ball of energy that had bounded into the recording studio and introduced herself as the new guitarist for goodnight, gotham after mary left the band.

there was a short silence as they walked down the street. “i miss her.” duke murmured, “dad misses her too.”

“i know he does.”

“is he going to get in trouble if i go live with mr. wayne?”

“well…there’s a chance he will duke. moms and dads aren’t supposed to leave their children alone.”

“will i see him again?”

“maybe.”

“you can’t take my dad away ms. leslie. you have to promise me that i’ll still get to see him.” duke looked up at her with a hopeful expression.

“duke i can’t make promises like that and i don’t want to because i don’t want you to end up hurt if you can’t see him when you want. i want you to know that i’ll try my best to make sure that you can see your father, but because he put you in this situation i can’t be sure that you’re going to see him right away.”

“i wanna go home.”

“duke-” before she could reach out to stop him he took off running. leslie let out a breath and frowned before pulling her phone out of her purse and calling bruce.

“how’d it go?”

“i’m fine, wayne. how are you?”

“leslie-”

“dr. thompkins to you. anyway, i had him and then he bolted on me. you have to understand that being taken from the one person he’s had since his mom died scares the absolute shit out him. poor kid’s been left alone so much he thinks it’s completely normal.”

“it makes no sense. doug wouldn’t just abandon duke for days at a time.”

“duke kept saying something about a monster. i think doug might’ve picked up some unhealthy coping mechanisms after the accident. if or when he comes back he will be arrested and duke will be put into foster care. it’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows, bruce. the kid isn’t going to open up to you or warm up to you if he’s forced into your home.”

“you’re saying this to the guy who took in two orphans while recovering from the same accident that killed their parents.”

“bruce. this is different. this is vastly different.” leslie sighed, “listen, i’ll keep my eyes and ears on this case and make sure that duke isn’t shuffled into any home other than yours, okay?”

“thank you leslie.”

“no worries, hun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the actual band stuff is coming i promise. i'm trying to set this au up in a way so it doesn't become the monster it was when i originally planned it out. we're world building, ya'll. maybe i'll try to throw some stuff in after jason and cass are introduced. we'll see.


	3. without a cause.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jason's not a very good thief.

“you gonna call the police or somethin’?”

bruce shakes his head. “why would i do that?”

jason todd wasn’t a stupid kid, he couldn’t afford to be stupid. when you grew up near the infamous crime alley being stupid could get you killed. he eyed the man in front of him with narrowed eyes and tapped his fingers along the table he was sitting at.

“ ‘cause i stole your shit.” he shrugged.

“you didn’t steal it, it’s still in my car.” bruce smiled a bit.

“well i tried to steal it. look, i know how this shit works. you call the police, i go to juvie and you go back to your mansion.”

bruce _could_ call the police and have jason arrested. but jason was a child and children didn’t steal concert memorabilia from famous musicians on their own.

“who are you working for?”

jason scrunched his nose up and rolled his eyes, “you don’t think i’m smart enough to come up with this plan on my own?”

“i think,” bruce paused, “you’re thirteen, right?”

“fourteen,”

“fourteen. if you get caught for theft you’ll be out way before you’re eighteen if this is your first offense. your record will be sealed and there’s no harm done. right?”

the kid huffed.

“thought so. where are your parents?”

“pero, like…why do you care? what’s in it for you? you gonna tell my dad so he can ‘teach me a lesson’ or something?”

bruce shrugged, “depends, do want to go back to your dad?”

when he didn’t answer bruce stood. “well, you can stay with me i suppose.”

jason narrowed his eyes, “what’s in it for you?”

“nothing. i have an extra room and i think you and dick might be the same the size if you need clothes-”

“the fuck kind of name is dick?”

he’s always wanted to know. the kid’s name is forever in tabloids or popping up in some tmz segment and jason felt like it was haunting him at one point.

a kid named dick.

“it’s short for richard.”

“that’s a stupid nickname.” jason mumbles.

they’re both silent for a moment and jason thinks he has bruce figured out. he’s a guilt-ridden rich guy that collects orphans. if sleeping in a mansion for a night was the way to help ease his conscience then jason was willing to help him out.

maybe he could get something out of this.

the ride to wayne manor didn’t take long, or it didn’t seem like it took too long. jason rarely left crime alley, it wasn’t necessary for him to. he’d been to the narrows a few times doing odd jobs, but uptown gotham and the outskirts of the city weren’t for kids like him. he didn’t sleep in mansions and ride in cars he couldn’t pronounce.

stuff like that was for kids named…

dick.

who the fuck calls their kid dick.

“i can take you home you know,” bruce reminds him.

“can’t come back empty-handed,” jason says softly, his fingers on the car’s door handle.

bruce nods.

“ ‘sides i can’t blackmail you for kidnapping me if i let you take me home.”

the corner of bruce’s lips turns up into a smile and he huffs a laugh.

“so what’s your deal old man?” jason asks as they enter the manor.

jason thinks the place might be bigger than his school. maybe even bigger than his apartment complex. bruce wayne could have ten families living in his mansion and he probably wouldn’t even know it.

“my deal?”

“yeah. i’ve seen the rags and i watch a ton of tv. are you some weird, eccentric guitarist that collects his dead friends’ kids like trophies?”

there’s a pause between them and jason doesn’t bother to look up at bruce to see if he’s offended him. he simply takes in the large foyer that houses the prettiest chandelier he’s ever seen.

it might be the only chandelier he’s ever seen in person.

“i’m,” bruce furrows his eyebrows, “i’m doing my best.”

“whatever that means.”

bruce shrugs. “you hungry?”

“nah. this place ain’t haunted is it?”

“maybe.”

“que chido.” jason whispers, nodding in appreciation.

bruce hid a smile and nodded toward the kitchen. “let’s get you some food. alfred made spaghetti.”

“please tell me alfred is your life partner and not your butler.”

“guess i won’t be telling you then,”

jason sighed, “rich folks.”

“we’re hopeless.”

the two made their way into the kitchen, jason still taking everything in, in thinly concealed awe. bruce spotted tim and dick finishing up their dinner, while alfred hovered over duke, trying to get the boy to eat more than a couple of bites.  jason recognized each boy immediately. whether they were out with bruce wayne or just being dropped off at school there was going to be a picture of them on some tabloid or gossip site. he never understood the fascination with them. from what he saw they were just normal kids eating spaghetti.

he snorted at that.

jason glanced up at the man he guessed was alfred, noting his attire and came to the conclusion that he was, indeed, a butler. “should i prepare another plate?” the man questioned, his left eyebrow raised.

“i got it, alfred thanks.” bruce gave the old man a smile.

“don’t put yourself out for me,” jason said with a bemused look.

“contrary to what you think, i do most things for myself. alfred was my parents’ butler and raised me when they died.”

“well now i feel like shit–”

“language master,” alfred paused an looked to bruce.

“jason.”

“master jason.”

“aye aye captain.” jason nodded.

the sound of feet hitting the floor made them pause their conversation and everyone turned to see a flash of dark curls rounding the corner. alfred sighed and gave bruce a look. “it’s fine alfred, i’ll just wrap it up and put it in the refrigerator. he always finishes his food when everyone is in bed.”

jason wasn’t sure if he wanted to figure out why _that_ was.

bruce looked down at jason and gestured to the remaining boys at the table, “jason this is tim and dick, the track star is duke. he’s a bit shy.”

dick gave jason a wave while tim seemed to appraise him a bit before saying hello. “yo,” jason says with a nod.

“i’ll go prepare a room for master jason and check on master duke.” alfred announces.

jason clears his throat, “can you just call me jason?”

“no, master jason.”

bruce hid a chuckle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jason's here! cass is coming soon and damian a little while after that. gonna get a couple of bonding moments between the boys, see how they're adjusting to each other and how jason becomes an official part of the wayne family. also...jason's afro-latino because i'm shill and couldn't resist.


	4. for what it's worth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bruce is really trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's short. i'm garbage. what's new?  
> 4/25/19 edit: changed the "she started teaching me before she died," line to "she started teaching me when i was five". math didn't add up when i was working on a new piece for this series.

duke is twelve when bruce realizes the kid has taught himself how to play the guitar right under his nose. he’ll be the first to admit that he still doesn’t like going down into the basement recording studio, affectionately dubbed, “the bat cave”. leslie will tell him that he needs to see a therapist and he’ll mumble something about not needing to go to the studio anyway because he hasn’t recorded a song in years.

and he doesn’t plan to ever again. and maybe it’s unhealthy; he’ll own that.

he doesn’t have to deal with it though.

his main focus is his youngest, who’s sitting perched on a stool in the recording booth of the studio looking like he’s been caught doing something he isn’t supposed to be. bruce doesn’t expect him to be down there. the bat cave is off limits to the kids unless given permission. even though he doesn’t use it, the equipment is still expensive and if the constant questions about it from luke fox tell him anything it’s that he might be giving it away soon.

“duke?”

“i’m sorry–”

“hey, don’t apologize. you have nothing to apologize for.” bruce steps into the recording booth and takes a long look at the guitar duke has situated on his lap.

“you found elaine’s guitar.”

duke nods and his fingers curl protectively around the neck of the guitar. “when did you start playing?” bruce approaches him slowly because even after four years duke still doesn’t seem to trust him.

“mom started when i was five,”

of course elaine would start teaching her five-year-old how to play the guitar. bruce can’t help but smile at that.

“dad taught me a little before…” duke shrugs and lets the sentence die on his tongue before continuing. he still can’t talk about his father and no one forces him to. “i can’t really read music. i just keep playing until it sounds like a familiar song.”

“you play by ear?”

duke bites his lip and bruce wonders how he can keep him from shutting down.

“have you ever thought of taking music classes at school?”

“yeah, but…” duke shrugs, “i don’t think…”

“you don’t think what?”

“...it doesn’t matter.”

and just like that bruce thinks he’s ruined the first thing duke’s shown interest in since he moved in. “do you want to learn more? i teach dick sometimes, and jason likes to play around with the bass.”

there’s silence as bruce shifts, shoving his hands in his pockets and hoping this is a breakthrough and not another obstacle for them. over the years he’s made good progress with dick. tim had his moments, but he was able to get him through them. jason had his own set of problems that bruce found himself working through with the help of leslie. duke was completely closed off to help and it scared bruce to no end because he was reminded of himself.

now he knew how leslie felt.

“can i go now? i won’t touch the guitar anymore.”

“it’s your guitar,” bruce cleared his throat, “you can take it with you and play it as much as you want to.”

bruce watches the boy slowly slide off of the stool and walk out of the studio as fast as his feet would take him. he kept the guitar, which bruce saw as a small victory, but he couldn’t help but feel as though he’d made no headway in connecting with duke.

he was starting to think he never would.


End file.
